Congolese microbiologist Dr Jean-Jacques Muyembe-Tamfum has been awarded an honorary degree in recognition for early and seminal work identifying the Ebola virus.
Dr Muyembe is the General Director of the National Institute of Biomedical Research (INRB). He is also Professor of Medical Microbiology/ Virology at the University of Kinshasa. He was the first to sample the Ebola virus in 1976, leading to its recognition as the cause of haemorrhagic fever.
In addition to this award, he was appointed to the WHO Advisory Group on the Ebola Virus Disease Response group in 2014. He also received the Christophe Mérieux Prize and the Royal Society Africa prize in 2015. He is the recipient of the Hideyo Noguchi Africa Prize . Dr Muyembe was named as one of Time’s 100 most influential in 2020.